


Act one; scene one

by stopwatch_plz (immiscibility)



Category: No. 6 - Asano Atsuko
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-07
Updated: 2013-04-07
Packaged: 2017-12-07 18:36:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/751709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/immiscibility/pseuds/stopwatch_plz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shion likes to take Nezumi at his word</p>
            </blockquote>





	Act one; scene one

_”Two households, both alike in dignity,_  
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,  
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,  
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”

Nezumi opened one eye where he had been laying on the bed half-asleep. “Sion, what are you doing?” he asked as he saw the smaller boy sitting on the foot of the bed, a book in hand and a look of concentration on his face.

“Umm… I’m reading you a story,” Sion replied as he looked up, biting his lip hesitantly when he got a frown in return.

“Am I seven? Do I need a bedtime story like the strays you’ve started to adopt?” Nezumi sat up and snatched the book from Sion’s hands. He looked at the cover and sighed. “Have you even read this book yet?” he asked.

Sion flushed. “Not yet. I wanted to read it to you. Cravat seemed to think it was a good idea.” He looked around for the mouse in question, who was nowhere around. The night before, when Sion had been investigating the shelves as usual, the mouse had run onto the bookshelf and knocked the book onto the floor with a loud thump. When he’d gone to read it, the mouse had scurried up the table leg and sat on the book, refusing to move and he started to get cross until he had a thought – which the mouse confirmed with a definite squeak when he voiced it aloud.

Nezumi looked at him sideways. “Are you feeling alright?” and reached out a hand to place it on his forehead. “You don’t seem hot…”

“I’m fine,” Sion said, swatting around Nezumi’s hand crossly. “I just wanted to read you a story,” he said with an air of petulance, and then he sighed. “Fine.” He put the book down and went to stand up.

“Read it.”

“Huh?” Sion said, half off the bed. He had to sit down quickly to stop himself from falling over and Nezumi rolled his eyes as he steadied himself with a hand on the wall.

“Read the book. By yourself. Then decide if you want to read it to me,” he said as he lay back down, facing the wall.

Sion waited, listening to his breaths getting slower and deeper, and then stood up again, made his way over to the small desk with its weak light shining, and opened the book as he began to read.

…

Nezumi woke up to find Sion slumped at the desk over the open book, most of the pages already read. He dressed quietly and self-consciously, not entirely sure why he didn’t want to wake Sion. He wrapped his cloak around him as he slid out the door, giving one last look at the silver-haired boy still asleep on the desk, a small golden-colored mouse next to him.

“Traitor,” Nezumi said to it, softly, as he scowled and closed the door.

The mouse gave a soft squeak in return.

…

It was late when Nezumi returned from his work, shivering from the cold rain outside. He closed the door quickly behind him, and took his cloak from his shoulders to shake the worst of the water off it, hanging it in its usual place. As he walked into the main area, it took him a moment to realize that he was alone.

“Sion?” he called out softly, then again louder. He started to panic and went back to the door, hand outstretched to pick up his cloak again, when he heard a small squeak, and a dark-colored mouse ran up his leg and onto his shoulder. “Is Sion ok?” he asked the small creature, and he got a nod in return. Nezumi rolled his eyes. “Fine, then” he said as he let his arm drop to his side. “I’ll try to be patient.” With one last glance at the door, he strode over to the small couch and picked up a book from on top of the desk, and his eyes caught the title of the book next to it.

_Romeo and Juliet_

“Idiot,” he muttered under his breath, but whether he meant himself or Sion, he wasn’t quite sure. Why did he even care that he’d gone out? It’s not as if he was the kid’s mother or anything. Annoyed, he took his book over to the bed and sat down, flicking through the pages until he found his place. With one last glance at the desk, he huffed with irritation and started reading.

…

 

_“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?_  
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;  
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,  
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.”

The words woke Nezumi from the sleep he hadn’t realized he had been in. Blinking against the light in the room, he looked confused when he saw Sion back at the bottom of the bed, a book in his hand.

“Where have you been?” he asked gruffly, once his eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting. Nezumi wasn’t at his best after waking as a general rule, especially when woken for an unknown reason.

Sion looked back at him, his strange red-glazed eyes staring back at him without a trace of awkwardness. “Why? You told me to read it, so I read it. Now I’m reading it to you.”

Nezumi raised a palm to his forehead and shook his head, slowly.

“What?” Sion demanded, as he curled his legs under him to sit on his heels. “I thought you would be pleased,” he added in a small voice.

Something in his voice made Nezumi look up, and he held back a sigh when he saw the look of disappointment on Sion’s face. Somewhere along the line, he’d managed to let this completely ridiculous situation suck him in, and there was no getting out of it. He moved the book from where it had been resting on his lap and settled down again in a more comfortable position. “Fine, ok – go ahead,” he waved in Sion’s general direction. Sion nodded determinedly, opened the book again, and started to read.

_Tis but thy name that is my enemy;_  
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.  
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,  
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part  
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!  
What's in a name? that which we call a rose  
By any other name would smell as sweet...

The words took Nezumi by surprise. They flowed into his brain like water down a mountainside; seemingly innocent at first, but its power quickly multiplying to become a terrifying force, tearing down all in its path indiscriminately. There was something about the way Sion spoke, as if he were speaking the words himself, not reading from a book hundreds of years old. He had a vague thought about how brilliant the kid would be on the stage, and then silenced the thought.

He wanted to keep Sion to himself.

And where did that thought come from?

He was in a dangerous situation. He knew that attachment to anything or anyone could be dangerous – could even get you killed. And yet... Suddenly the silence was deafening. He lay on the bed, as though in limbo, and he was surprisingly unsure of himself and not wanting to make the first move.

“Nezumi?” Sion asked hesitantly, his voice hoarse from reading aloud so much. After a few heartbeats pause, he got a reply.

“Do you believe in it?” Nezumi said, quietly, as he opened his eyes and looked at him. Sion looked at him confused, and Nezumi rolled his eyes. “Romeo and Juliet. Do you believe in them? As people? As characters? Do you think what they did was right – or even reasonable?”

Sion put the book down on the bed beside him and thought for a moment. “They were in love. And they didn’t want to let silly rules and convention get in the way of it,” he decided eventually, and he looked up.

“Idiot,” Nezumi replied. Sion looked up at him, confused, and then scowled.

“Why am I an idiot?” he challenged, fists balling in anger, his eyebrows furrowing in frustration. “Was my reading that bad?”

Nezumi shook his head. “It’s nothing to do with your reading. In fact, I thought you were quite good.” Sion didn’t miss that compliment. “But that’s not the point – the moral of the story is that you should never risk your life for anyone else, no matter who they are.”

“That’s not true – there’s always someone worth fighting for!” Sion said sharply, and Nezumi’s eyes flew wide open in surprise at the outburst as he looked up and then he lay back on the bed and sighed with resignation.

“You’re determined not to give up, aren’t you.” It was more of a statement than a question, and it didn’t need clarifying.

“I will never give up on anything. Or anyone.” Sion’s voice dropped, “Not even you.”

“Come here,” Nezumi said suddenly and Sion looked up and waited for something else to follow and when it didn’t appear he carefully made his way up to the head of the bed to sit next to Nezumi, who was still lying down, his eyes closed again. “Well?”

“Well what?” Sion replied, feeling as though he was meant to be doing something but hadn’t the faintest idea what that was. It was something he had felt a lot recently, if he was honest.

“Aren’t you going to read another one?” Nezumi asked, with a self-satisfied smirk.

Sion looked confused and then jumped up. “Yeah,” he said excitedly as he looked around the room. “In fact, there was one I found yesterday after chasing Cravat after he stole some of my food…” he trailed off as he searched the pile by the bed. “Aha!” he exclaimed triumphantly as he waved a book around in the air. “Got it.” He moved back onto the bed, sitting with his back against the wall with Nezumi lying beside him. He spent a few moments settling into place before he opened the book and started to read…

A few minutes later, Sion was aware that Nezumi’s breathing started to slow, and smiled to himself as the taller boy sighed almost inaudibly, and curled himself around Sion’s legs.

“Idiot,” Nezumi murmured into the pillow.


End file.
